Weekly eXchange #228 – Phoenix Fiasco!!!
Join Nate and Troy as they bring you all the important information on all of your favorite 4X and strategy games! This week they talk about Thea 2: the Shattering, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, Galactic Civilizations 3, Sins of a Solar Empire and much much more. As well as continued coverage for your other favorite 4X and […]
Space Tyrant Review
Right now, I’m in the prime of my life. My career is going well, and I’m taking on more responsibilities. My child is growing up and consequently getting more involved with clubs, sports, and various other extracurricular activities. My house is getting old enough now that I have to make occasional repairs and improvements. My […]
Strategic eXpanse #34 – Strategic Warfare Part 2
Join Nate, Oliver, Mark, Joshua and Troy as they continue to discuss Warfare in 4X games and focus on the “Arc” of a 4X games. They also discuss ideas that they’d like to see developers implement in future games with a specific focus on Winning Conditions. So come, listen and tell us what you think. […]
What the 4X Genre Can Learn from War Games: An eXposition
I have a confession to make: the “4X Renaissance” has felt more like the dark ages to me.. Whether it’s the feature creep, strange design decisions, or age old problems that continue to plague the genre, I’ve had a hard time getting into most of the big, recent releases. And I don’t think I am […]
Crossing The Rubicon: Defining The 4X-like Genre
Preface Classifying games into genres is a challenging endeavor. The terminology for describing games is often loosely defined, or is understood differently from person to person. Even when there is common language, new games are routinely created that seem to defy categorization. For instance, what was once a well-bounded RTS genre is now routinely a […]
2017 End of Year Statistical eXamination Part 2
You can find part one of this article series and all associated charts HERE. eXplorminate is entering its fifth calendar year of existence, thus we now have four years of market data from our time to examine. It’s been a very exciting period for 4X. Some call it a Renaissance, others a Second Golden Age, […]
2016 End Of Year Statistical eXamination Part 2
In Part One, I reported just the facts about 4X games released within the lifespan of eXplorminate (2014 and on). In part 2, I’ll be offering my own analysis and observations. Before I jump into that, though, I do want to give a shout-out to SteamSpy.com, Steamcharts.com, and Metacritic. Without them, this kind of analysis […]
2016 End of Year Statistical eXamination Part 1
About a year ago, I wrote a piece that brought together data from SteamSpy and Steamcharts to do an analysis of 4X games launched in 2015. At the time, I didn’t know what to expect from an examination of such data, but in the 12 months since that article was published, I have found myself […]
Sorcerer King: Rivals Review
Sorcerer King (SK) was one of the more innovative 4X games released in 2015. While I believe the game had some design flaws and thematic issues, there was no denying that it added something new to the genre. For Stardock, however, SK proved to be something of a disappointment, receiving a lukewarm reception and disappointing […]
